Technology providing healthcare solutions

Associate Professor Bronwyn Hemsley's research is
helping bypass speech difficulties through the use of mobile technologies and
e-health solutions.

While
working with children and adults with cerebral palsy, Speech Pathologist Associate Professor Bronwyn Hemsley found her niche in health and social research.

She
discovered that many people with more severe forms of disability who have
little or no speech, also lack access to technologies that would help them get
their message across, especially to people who are not familiar with their
needs.

"Recent
advancements, including the advent of mobile technologies such as the iPad, and
e-health solutions, such as the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record
for all Australians, are potentially promising solutions for many people who
struggle to convey their health needs," Hemsley said.

"My
skills as a speech pathologist now are really put to best use when including
people with little or no speech in all aspects of research. Although they are
traditionally excluded from most healthcare research, they can actually take
part using various communication aids and other strategies."

Ensuring
patients with severe speech disabilities avoid negative events in hospital is
the focus of a new three-year NHMRC research project led by Hemsley in
collaboration with Associate Professor Andrew Georgiou, a health informatics
researcher at The University of New South Wales, and consumer communication
researcher Dr Sophie Hill at La Trobe University.

"Patients
with communication disabilities often have high medical and functional support
needs and enter hospital more frequently than their non-disabled peers. Their
communication disabilities expose them to a three-fold increased risk for
patient safety incidents in hospital," Hemsley said.

These
patients are more susceptible to safety incidents like falls, being given the
wrong medication or choking. Because they haven't got a way of getting
attention or explaining what's wrong they're much more likely to feel
depressed, lonely and isolated while in hospital.

Hemsley has received ethical approval from the University and the Cerebral
Palsy Alliance to interview people who have been in hospital in the past 12
months to understand things that went wrong and how it affected them and also
what helped people to stay safe in hospital.

By
figuring out what goes wrong, and what helps to protect people, Hemsley and
her team will create a simple communication tool that can be used by hospital
staff and carers when they first meet a patient with communication
disabilities.

"This project will result in the development
of a framework and mobile technology application that helps to prevent and
manage patient safety incidents," she said

"Mobile
technologies could be useful for staff to check off relevant facts like 'does
this person have a way to say yes or no', 'can they ask for the toilet', 'do
they have a communication aid'."

She is also leading another three-year NHMRC funded project entitled 'Personally Controlled Electronic Health
Records: Charting the course for successful healthcare transitions in young
adults with communication disabilities.'

"In
addition to mobile technologies, we're starting to explore the utility of a relatively
new e-health technology now available to all Australians - the Personally
Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR)," Hemsley said.

The
PCEHR is designed to improve communication of health information from the
patient to any of the health providers that they permit to view the record.

"Young
adults with chronic disabling health conditions, including cerebral palsy and
intellectual disabilities, often struggle to communicate key aspects of their
personal health information to health service providers. This results in poor
care, including medication errors, poor discharge planning, and problems
meeting the person's unique care support needs," Hemsley explained.

"This
research will closely examine the views, needs, and experiences of young adults
with chronic disabling health conditions and communication disabilities on
their preferences regarding how they keep and use personal health information,
and any barriers to or strategies for enabling access to their Personally
Controlled Electronic Health Record PCEHR."

Along with her team, she will interview young adults aged 16-21 years who have
communication disabilities, and observe how they engage with their paper-based
health records and the PCEHR system.

"When
young adults are moving from children's health services to adult based services, they can feel that they are 'thrown in the deep end' because of a shift from
family-centred to person-centred approach and fewer supports being available
for adults than are provided for children." Hemsley said.

"We
want to find out what young adults with a disability want to communicate to
their health providers. We also plan to speak to parents, direct support
workers, and administrators in disability services to really understand all of
the factors that might impact on this group's use of the PCEHR."

The
resulting evidence will inform the effective design and development of the PCEHR
early in its uptake and use in Australia, and ensure that young adults with
disabilities can benefit by improved information exchange at the point of care
when moving from child to adult health services

"Of
course we're very pleased that the community, the University and the Australian
Government's NHMRC have been very supportive of this area and has committed
resources to improving the lives of people with communication disabilities.

"We're
hoping that the results of these two studies help to drive rapid improvements
in healthcare for people with disabilities across Australia, particularly as
the new National Disability Insurance Scheme funding arrangements come into
action.

"When
people tell us about their experiences as a person with a communication
disability, and that information is taken seriously when delivered as evidence
from systematic research, it can make a real difference to people's lives," Hemsley said.

Associate Professor Bronwyn Hemsley would like to invite expressions of interest from any person who wishes to engage with the Disability Research Network at the University of Newcastle.

Career Summary

Biography

Research Expertise
Dr. Bronwyn Hemsley is a specialist speech pathologist with 25 years experience in working with people with communication disabilities in a clinical, research, teaching, and policy and development capacity. She takes an inclusive approach in involvement of consumers in teaching and research and consultation within all research projects and practice guideline development. Her research agenda aims to improve communicative access across settings for all people with difficulty communicating by speech, in a rights based approach as supported by the World Health Organisation.
She holds a continuing position as senior lecturer at The University of Newcastle and NHMRC postdoctoral fellowship, an honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney, and member of the NHMRC Research Translation Faculty. Relative to her research opportunity she has a strong track record and has published 30 peer reviewed journal articles that are widely cited across nursing, health policy, and communication disciplines. She regularly consults to State and National Governments and the Speech Pathology Association of Australia on matters pertaining to disability, communication, and health interactions, policy, and training of staff. She is President-Elect of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC), and Chairs the ISAAC Research committee and Translations committee. She is an Editor on the Cochrane Consumers and Communication Review Group and has associate editor responsibilities in the journal Augmentative and Alternative Communication and Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability.
Bronwyn has developed strong collaborative links with eminent national and international researchers in her field and across disciplines in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Asia Pacific with active projects relating to communication and health interactions. She regularly appears on the international stage and is invited to speak on her research and clinical implications. Bronwyn is in a position of leadership at her University and is leading innovations in research across the School and Faculty. She was an invited speaker at Speech Pathology Australia, in Hobart June 2012, and the Allied Health National Conference in April 2012 on social media in speech pathology professional development.
Bronwyn's research to date has focused upon the day to day life and health impacts of having little or no speech along with a complex health profile or multiple disabilities affecting a range of functions. The findings of her research encompass a detailed understanding of family carers, paid carers, hospital staff, adults with communication disabilities, and the tools for communication that might assist them to communicate successfully.

Teaching Expertise
Bronwyn teaches and co-ordinates courses at the University of Newcastle, including:
SPTH2003 - Complex Communication Needs 1
SPTH2004 - Complex Communication Needs 2
SPTH3002 - Swallowing Across the Lifespan
Bronwyn is also engaged in teaching research, with Dr. Liam Phelan (Grad School, University of Newcastle) with investigations currently including:
- the use of Twitter in teaching and learning by students in speech pathology
- the use of Twitter for teaching and learning by guest lecturers with complex communication needs
Information about these projects is available from Bronwyn including copies of conference presentations related to these current projects.

Qualifications

PhD (Communication Sciences & Disorders), University of Sydney

Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology), University of Sydney

Keywords

Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Complex communication needs

Developmental Disability

Dysphagia and Mealtime Management

Healthcare Communication

Inclusive Research

Qualitative Research

Speech Pathology

Professional Experience

UON Appointment

Title

Organisation / Department

Associate Professor

University of NewcastleSchool of Humanities and Social ScienceAustralia

Academic appointment

Dates

Title

Organisation / Department

1/02/2011 - 1/03/2013

Fellow NHMRC

NHMRC - Research Fellowships Scheme

University of NewcastleSchool of Humanities and Social ScienceAustralia

Publications

For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.

Chapter (6 outputs)

Year

Citation

Altmetrics

Link

2015

Powrie B, Hemsley B, 'Goal identification when communication is a challenge.', Motivation and goal setting: Engaging children and parents in therapy, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London Accepted for publication on 23.01.2014 (2015)

Hemsley B, Goldbart J, Waller A, Launonen K, 'Across the lifespan: Parents and families of people who use AAC: A new research agenda.', Research Symposium of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) Biennial Conference, ISAAC (International Society for Augmenative and Alternative Communication), Toronto, Canada 4-56 (2010)

Abstract: In this reply to Lilienfeld, Marshall, Todd, and Shane (2015) we provide a social marketing perspective on ways that facilitated communication (FC) is presented and disc... [more]

Abstract: In this reply to Lilienfeld, Marshall, Todd, and Shane (2015) we provide a social marketing perspective on ways that facilitated communication (FC) is presented and discussed on social media platforms, in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The growth in uptake and use of FC in recent years has occurred in the context of rapid growth in mobile technologies and AAC integrated with social media and online learning. Social media have been used to disseminate both materials that are supportive of FC and materials that provide scientific evidence of facilitator influence over authorship in FC. In order to illustrate how social media are being used to spread information about FC, we present a limited scan of two social media sitesÂ¿TwitterÂ¿ and YouTubeÂ¿Â¿for information about FC. In this paper we discuss barriers to evidence and facilitators for FC in social media and consider the role that social marketing might play in relation to FC. Clinical implications for using social media to counter FC and directions for future research are discussed.

Facilitated Communication (FC) is a technique whereby individuals with disabilities and communication impairments allegedly select letters by typing on a keyboard while receiving ... [more]

Facilitated Communication (FC) is a technique whereby individuals with disabilities and communication impairments allegedly select letters by typing on a keyboard while receiving physical support, emotional encouragement, and other communication supports from facilitators. The validity of FC stands or falls on the question of who is authoring the typed messages-the individual with a disability or the facilitator. The International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) formed an Ad Hoc Committee on FC and charged this committee to synthesize the evidence base related to this question in order to develop a position statement. The purpose of this paper is to report this synthesis of the extant peer-reviewed literature on the question of authorship in FC. A multi-faceted search was conducted including electronic database searches, ancestry searches, and contacting selected authors. The authors considered synopses of systematic reviews, and systematic reviews, which were supplemented with individual studies not included in any prior reviews. Additionally, documents submitted by the membership were screened for inclusion. The evidence was classified into articles that provided (a) quantitative experimental data related to the authorship of messages, (b) quantitative descriptive data on the output generated through FC without testing of authorship, (c) qualitative descriptive data on the output generated via FC without testing of authorship, and (d) anecdotal reports in which writers shared their perspectives on FC. Only documents with quantitative experimental data were analyzed for authorship. Results indicated unequivocal evidence for facilitator control: messages generated through FC are authored by the facilitators rather than the individuals with disabilities. Hence, FC is a technique that has no validity.

Donato C, Shane HC, Hemsley B, 'Exploring the feasibility of the visual language in autism program for children in an early intervention group setting: views of parents, educators, and health professionals.', Dev Neurorehabil, 17 115-124 (2014) [C1]

Donato C, Shane H, Hemsley B, 'Barriers and facilitators to a visual language system for children with developmental disabilities in an early intervention setting.', International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) Biennial Conference "Discover Communication", Lisbon, Portugal (2014) [E3]

Research Supervision

Current Supervision

Keeping People with Communication Difficulties Safe in the Pre-hospital PeriodSpeech Pathology, Faculty of Education and ArtsPrincipal Supervisor

2014

Children with Autism and Their Engagement and Interaction with Visual Supports in Early Intervention Settings: A Sociotechnical Investigation of Mobile Technologies for CommunicationSpeech Pathology, Faculty of Education and ArtsPrincipal Supervisor

2014

Twitter Use by People with Communication Disabilities Post Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)Speech Pathology, Faculty of Education and ArtsPrincipal Supervisor

Past Supervision

Year

Research Title / Program / Supervisor Type

2013

Managing Dynamism in Projects: A Theory-Building Study of Approaches Used in PracticeManagement & Commerce, University of QueenslandCo-Supervisor

Research Collaborations

The map is a representation of a researchers co-authorship with collaborators across the globe. The map displays the number of publications against a country, where there is at least one co-author based in that country. Data is sourced from the University of Newcastle research publication management system (NURO) and may not fully represent the authors complete body of work.

Head of speech pathology, Dr Sally Hewat was recently recognised for her significant contributions to the people of Vietnam in supporting the development of the speech pathology program and profession.